A edição de hoje do The New York Times presenteia-nos com um artigo que visa questionar os efeitos – benignos e nefastos – das transmissões de récitas líricas (do Met, nomeadamente), live, para o mundo inteiro, via salas de cinema.
Como grande amante de lírica, não posso ficar insensível a semelhante polémica. Evidentemente, a ópera deve ser assistida in loco, ossia em espaços concebidos para o efeito. Estádios de football e quejandos são palcos que devem permanecer fora do horizonte da lírica, correspondendo a territórios explorados de modo vil por um marketing ganancioso, próprio dos anos 1990 (vide Três Tenores), que algumas eminências pardas do universo lírico tão bem souberam aproveitar – Pavarotti, Domingo e Carreras.
Contudo, nesta polémica, devemos estabelecer, com clareza, uma linha que demarque o ideal do possível. Se parte dos opositores a esta experiência vivesse numa cidade como Lisboa - cuja ópera se afunda em merda, mais e mais, a cada dia que passa -, rapidamente perderiam o pudor e pergaminhos, abraçando com entusiasmo a possibilidade de assistir a uma récita de qualidade, ainda que numa sala de cinema!
Posto isto, eis os argumentos, pró...
«The dissenters say that the movement will lead to more conservative programming; that the voice will become subservient to appearance; that listeners will be trained to hear something electronic and lose an appreciation for a live experience.
Some worry that vocal training will change, de-emphasizing the ability to project, and that the Met’s effort is a deal with the Devil, because it will divert audiences from local opera houses to make the easier, cheaper trip to the mall.»
...e contra:
«The HD broadcasts have had a concrete effect on one area: acting. Singers are now aware that at any moment a live shot can frame them. Every bead of sweat, flap of the tongue, crooked tooth and quiver of the lip is on view.
“It changes the rules of engagement for singing and acting,” said Stephen Wadsworth, an opera director and opera acting teacher, who said he had noticed a surge in invitations to teach acting master classes.
Singers now worry about matters that are usually invisible to house audiences, like spraying saliva when singing consonants, or showing the effort to hit a high note, or turning upstage to clear one’s throat, or winking in support of a duet partner during a clinch, said Susan Graham, the mezzo-soprano, who has hosted several broadcasts and played Marguerite in the broadcast of Berlioz’s “Damnation de Faust.” The camera’s unrelenting nature means fewer peeks at the conductor.
“Sometimes opera is not an up-close spectator sport,” Ms. Graham said.
Acting in front of live cameras must not stop with the singing, she added. When a tenor croons of love, the soprano must show the fervor, because a camera may go for a reaction shot. Even the makeup is different, less exaggerated.
“We go the extra mile with realism,” Ms. Graham said.
The HD broadcasts have also created a new topic of conversation among singers: “ ‘Did it make me look fat?’ ” Ms. Graham said. “We are not unvain.”»
Falam de barriga cheia, os velhos do restelo, como sempre.
Peter Gelb, uma vez mais, descobriu o ovo de colombo, com este golpe certeiro.
Como grande amante de lírica, não posso ficar insensível a semelhante polémica. Evidentemente, a ópera deve ser assistida in loco, ossia em espaços concebidos para o efeito. Estádios de football e quejandos são palcos que devem permanecer fora do horizonte da lírica, correspondendo a territórios explorados de modo vil por um marketing ganancioso, próprio dos anos 1990 (vide Três Tenores), que algumas eminências pardas do universo lírico tão bem souberam aproveitar – Pavarotti, Domingo e Carreras.
Contudo, nesta polémica, devemos estabelecer, com clareza, uma linha que demarque o ideal do possível. Se parte dos opositores a esta experiência vivesse numa cidade como Lisboa - cuja ópera se afunda em merda, mais e mais, a cada dia que passa -, rapidamente perderiam o pudor e pergaminhos, abraçando com entusiasmo a possibilidade de assistir a uma récita de qualidade, ainda que numa sala de cinema!
Posto isto, eis os argumentos, pró...
«The dissenters say that the movement will lead to more conservative programming; that the voice will become subservient to appearance; that listeners will be trained to hear something electronic and lose an appreciation for a live experience.
Some worry that vocal training will change, de-emphasizing the ability to project, and that the Met’s effort is a deal with the Devil, because it will divert audiences from local opera houses to make the easier, cheaper trip to the mall.»
...e contra:
«The HD broadcasts have had a concrete effect on one area: acting. Singers are now aware that at any moment a live shot can frame them. Every bead of sweat, flap of the tongue, crooked tooth and quiver of the lip is on view.
“It changes the rules of engagement for singing and acting,” said Stephen Wadsworth, an opera director and opera acting teacher, who said he had noticed a surge in invitations to teach acting master classes.
Singers now worry about matters that are usually invisible to house audiences, like spraying saliva when singing consonants, or showing the effort to hit a high note, or turning upstage to clear one’s throat, or winking in support of a duet partner during a clinch, said Susan Graham, the mezzo-soprano, who has hosted several broadcasts and played Marguerite in the broadcast of Berlioz’s “Damnation de Faust.” The camera’s unrelenting nature means fewer peeks at the conductor.
“Sometimes opera is not an up-close spectator sport,” Ms. Graham said.
Acting in front of live cameras must not stop with the singing, she added. When a tenor croons of love, the soprano must show the fervor, because a camera may go for a reaction shot. Even the makeup is different, less exaggerated.
“We go the extra mile with realism,” Ms. Graham said.
The HD broadcasts have also created a new topic of conversation among singers: “ ‘Did it make me look fat?’ ” Ms. Graham said. “We are not unvain.”»
Falam de barriga cheia, os velhos do restelo, como sempre.
Peter Gelb, uma vez mais, descobriu o ovo de colombo, com este golpe certeiro.
Aí vai o meu comentário ao artigo do New York Times de 15/02. Vai haver muitas citações, por isso vai haver muito inglês…
ResponderEliminar“The dissenters say that the movement will lead to more conservative programming”- talvez… talvez…
“that the voice will become subservient to appearance”- já lá estamos! Vide o caso Deborah Voigt/Covent Garden-Ariadne auf Naxos/Black dress. E o posterior emagrecimento de Debbie Voigt? Como se explica?
“that listeners will be trained to hear something electronic and lose an appreciation for a live experience.”- o verdadeiro apreciador e connoisseur dirá não a isto!
“Gerard Mortier, the Belgian impresario, said in a speech last June at a conference of opera managers in Denver that stands as the skeptics’ cri de coeur. “Why go to the cinema? Come to the opera.”- se a Sra. Netrebko não pedir milhões de dólares de cachet, eu até que posso ir…
“It’s about the live experience of singing people on the stage,” he said. He referred to the myth of Orpheus, whose song charmed the gods in Hades: “Orfeo went himself to the underworld to sing. He didn’t send his videocassette.”- Fraco argumento. Não me diga Mr. Mortier que acredita que Orfeu existiu mesmo… com ou sem videocassette?!...??
“The Met is even negotiating to send an opera feed to an Argentine base in Antarctica. “Seen by an audience of penguins,” Mr. Gelb joked.”- Como eles podem brincar e rirem-se às gargalhadas!… nós por cá… :-(
“Mr. Gelb said the program’s success has made the Met more attractive to opera stars craving larger audiences, the international spotlight and maybe the applause of penguins.”- Boa! Eat your heart out, Mr. Villázon!
“The transmissions, he added, are also largely responsible for a 12 percent growth in ticket sales at the opera house since he took over, although he acknowledged there was no hard evidence for this.”- Atenção! Perigo lá para os lados do Met! Isto pode dar um MetFreeport!:-D
“The HD broadcasts have had a concrete effect on one area: acting. Singers are now aware that at any moment a live shot can frame them. Every bead of sweat, flap of the tongue, crooked tooth and quiver of the lip is on view. (…)Singers now worry about matters that are usually invisible to house audiences, like spraying saliva when singing consonants, or showing the effort to hit a high note, or turning upstage to clear one’s throat, or winking in support of a duet partner during a clinch, said Susan Graham, the mezzo-soprano”- como apreciador de Ópera há mais de 20 anos nunca me queixei de Callas a lutar pela correcção de uma nota aguda nos poucos registos filmados que há da Diva, de Eva Marton aos BERROS!! na Turandot/Puccini, de Plácido Domingo a babar-se perante Kiri Te Kanawa na Manon Lescaut/Puccini/Covent Garden/Sinopoli/82 ou 83, nem de Jon Vickers a suar em pinga(!!) no IIIºActo do Tristan dos Chorégies d´Orange73… bem até pelo contrário!!...:-)
“Acting in front of live cameras must not stop with the singing, she added. When a tenor croons of love, the soprano must show the fervor, because a camera may go for a reaction shot. Even the makeup is different, less exaggerated.“We go the extra mile with realism,” Ms. Graham said.”- Ah, cá está! É bom para o género operático!
“Two former Met subscribers, Richard and Betty Ringenwald of Delanco, N.J., were there. Driving to Lincoln Center had become too burdensome, Ms. Ringenwald said. “You can see everything up close and personal, as if you’re the only person in the theater. (…)Most audience members had been to live opera before; about half had gone at least five times in the previous two years.(…) Few young people went, and the attendees were “mostly white, highly educated and older”: the typical opera house audience, the survey said.”- O contra.
“The good news for opera companies is that most of those who responded to the survey said they would still go to live performances.”- O Pró.
É tudo… e já é muito! Muito obrigado pela vossa paciência.
See ya.
LG